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This was back in March, when we did not yet know whether or not the regime would collapse under the weight of a bombing only campaign. Now that that's clear, just blowing it all up is a more viable option. That said, I still think taking the island over would be the best answer, but politically it would probably result in a few American deaths so outright destroying it is the easier, even though less correct answer. So yeah, I've been pretty consistent. As far as depleting military resources, countries at peace that are expecting further peace do not build up their military, and they do not maintain it. Some places let it collapse faster than others, but the trend is always downward. This is a point I've made before that many of the "obviously I believe there's going to be a war again I'm just remiss to say where or when or why or if it will happen while I'm alive or while my kids are alive or while my grandkids are alive" crowd just sees as warmongering, because ultimately they believe in something I do not. A peaceful world. I want the inevitable war to start while America can still win it. There's a paradox there, because your enemies will not start a war when it is obvious that you can win. Obviously our capabilities/willpower have deteriorated to the point that some of our traditional adversaries have gotten feistier. That's not going to get better. We're not going back into the peace of the '90s. A chain of events has initiated that is going to eventually lead to a another Total war. If I had godlike powers and could control the timeline precisely, I would try to push that Total war off for about 10-15 years, while using a series of regional wars and catastrophes to continually Hammer the global supply chain in an effort to motivate Europe and the Americas to continue this brand new project of rapid de-globalization. We need to rebuild some level of industrial capacity, because that's where you make the drones and the missiles and the bombs and the ships and the planes, we need to secure enough chip fabrication capacity, which is still going to take another decade before we're caught up with Taiwan, and we need a mining Renaissance between Canada and the United States and Mexico, stripping every ounce of critical minerals that we can from the many many isolated and barren parts of our country. Then, send up the flare. Many Americans (and Europeans) are doing with China what Europe did with Germany in the late thirties. Just squeeze your eyes shut and deny the obvious message being sent by those who are not even shy about calling you their enemy. America was in a very similar cultural and political moment back then, with the Americans completely uninterested in participating in foreign affairs and large swaths of the population sympathetic to the fascists and Communists who were by any objective measure immoral governments that created misery for their people. Unfortunately for Germany and Japan, the United States was the largest manufacturing center in the world at the time, so it didn't matter that we kept our head in the sand too long and joined the fight too late. We cranked out 300,000 planes and 50,000 tanks. Who wins the war of production today? Anything that slows down the Chinese industrial machine is a win in my book.

I’m referring to your assertion that we need to bomb Kharg island to intentionally set off a global energy crisis which will somehow be a good thing in the long run. I don’t remember this war ever being pitched that way (fair enough, you didn’t pitch it) but I also don’t remember you ever making this point before. It seems a lot like you’re starting with your conclusion (we just need to keep bombing and escalating) and working backward from there each week with whatever the new neocon strategy du jour is. This is just a blatant straw man. No one here has ever claimed we figured out eternal world peace or that other countries around the world don’t act aggressively. Quite the opposite actually.. my argument is if we’re serious about deterring Russia and China this war has severely hampered that. We don’t have infinite money or resources and this stupid boondoggle on behalf of a foreign country pulled valuable assets away from other AORs that will take significant time to reconstitute. Rebuilding U.S. Missile Inventory: A Multiyear ProjectHigh expenditure of key munitions in Operation Epic Fury has created a window of vulnerability until inventories return to pre-war levels and then reach levels that war planners desire.Article says TLAM THAAD and Patriot stockpiles will be reconstituted by sometime between 2029 and 2031. We retasked 2 carrier strike groups from PACOM to the Middle East. Bomber task forces to anywhere other than CENTCOM are nonexistent right now. 69% of our tanker fleet is sitting at BG/PSAB. But yeah it’s probably a good idea to bomb Kharg island and risk a possible China confrontation at the exact moment our force posture in PACOM is more on the back foot than at any point in the last decade 👌

austin was a terrible sec def

F that guy. Seriously. Literally give one of the worst testimonies to Congress I've ever seen by a member of the DOD.

I don’t agree with everything Pete has done but in terms of worst SecDef ever…

Well to be fair, you're just here to scream into the void, so your questions are usually not particular consistent or honest. My "justifications" for this war are not going to be the same as the administration's, or Brabus's, or anyone else. What and who exactly are you referring to? And yeah, I'm totally crazy for thinking that we just happened to be the generation that figured out how to solve war (just like every society felt right before total war broke out). We did it, team! No big wars ever again. Don't mind the 4 year long land war in Europe or the biggest manufacturing economy building out a humongous and advancing military, they're doing all that because of peace 😂🤣

Bulgaria with their new Block 70 Vipers.

.. so we need to escalate in order to.. encourage Europe to recapitalize their energy independence, so that in some future hypothetical war that’s a foregone conclusion (in your head) our allies will be stronger? Guys these justifications are getting more and more convoluted and nonsensical. Talk about a goalpost shift.. I thought this was about an “imminent nuclear threat” to the US homeland

I pilot I have mentored since he was 14 is a TPS grad and stationed there as an IP. As late as Thursday the wreckage was still on the runway. He mentioned they got back to flying and he decided to go to Palmdale rather than do patterns and see the wreckage on every pattern. It's been tough on the entire test and bomber community, I think there legacy will live on because they touched so many lives.

This is beyond tragic. I can't claim to have known any of the crew but I'm confident I've crossed paths with atleast a few during my occasional trips to KEDW. I don't want this thread to dissipate so fast, like how the rest of the websphere has a ten second attention span. We need to keep these bros in our thoughts & prayers as long as possible.

KEND 26-12AF F-35 F-16 T-38 FAIP B-52 AFRC F-16 Bulgaria

Indeed, I am not bothered by it and see no conspiracy. Was just curious the thoughts of others. I've never seen a Chaplin throw rank around, quite the opposite. Under LOAC they have a different status anyway. Shack! Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam War, 55,000 dead American and how many other lives lost (MILLIONS). Air Campaign by numbers and sortie count which led to Bros strafing the Paul Doumer Bridge because we sold off all our bombs...the F-111...targeting breakfasts. He disastrously attempted to manage a complex human-terrain war using purely quantitative, statistical data (such as enemy body counts), while ignoring qualitative factors like morale, civilian sentiment, and enemy motivation. A LOT of writing on him in recent years...if you want to read an example of bad...look at project 100,000, his draft expansion program that lowered mental and medical standards to recruit disadvantaged young men who would have otherwise been rejected. Often cruelly referred to as "McNamara’s morons," these soldiers faced disproportionately higher casualties and severe post-war disadvantages.

If it sets off a war immediately, probably not. If it doesn't start an immediate war, but forces Europe into regaining control over their energy resources before the inevitable war comes (and it neutralizes the largest destabilizing force in the middle east), then probably so.

So I guess the obvious follow up question here is.. is Iran such an existential threat to the US that we need to bomb Kharg island, setting off a global economic crisis and potential war with China? You just listed some pretty gnarly side effects of your silver bullet solution to this war so I’m just wondering.. is a world where Kharg island is blown up but now we have a global depression/energy crisis and China wants to go to war with us somehow better?

It's just a few bad cops.

Let’s not forget another, Les Aspin and the Blackhawk Down fiasco.

Not quite. But yes, ours will be most insulated. It would be more appropriate to say that the mismanagement of their own economies at the shrine of globalization has put most of these countries in the position that any disruption can be a catastrophe. Because of this, we can't just smash the country that has been a sworn event for decades. Well, we can, but it'll be ugly.

Louis Johnson in my book with McNamara a close second.

I kinda don't care. But also, it reads like he has never really interacted with a Chappy before. Literally never had an issue with one, nor heard of one either throwing rank around, or having an issue being in high or low ranking environments. I'm a probably a bit biased, but I loved Chaplains - no homo. Seems like change for the sake of change? So, I reread it because I just kinda skimmed it before. Seems like he wants them to stop focusing on counseling and support. "Ministry" should be the focus. Well, with what he did with the re-categorization seems to me (with conspiracy glasses on) it's getting into "christian nationalism" proselytizing. With out conspiracy glasses on...see first response. Worst SecDef ever? I think McNamara still takes it.

Bombing's back on the menu - https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2222408/trump-launches-new-strikes-iran Has this ever worked without deep intel assets ready with a replacement, a la our forays into S. America? We just need to burn the rest of the world's economies to the ground and ours will be fine. K.

KDLF 26-12AF F16 B1 F35x2 T-38 FAIP F-22

That has existed for most of my career - and it generally has the effect you’d expect.